Archive of Our Own

"Beach day!!" IV called, trailing a towel behind him as he tromped across the sand. The sun shone bright in the sky, a surprise after a good spate of especially cloudy days despite the heat, although clouds still threatened to roll in at the edges of the beautiful view. While signs of life could be seen far in the distance, this particular slice of the beach was completely deserted.

"Beach day," Vessel confirmed. "We deserve a holiday after all that," he said as he followed, a large dark visor covering his eyes, two large totebags full of supplies in his arms. He had a big complicated-looking camera hanging from his neck. "If it's not one thing, it's another."

"We really do," II said, an oversized umbrella resting on his shoulder as he followed along. "The music industry is still somehow a hell of a lot more demanding than Sleep and I'm bloody exhausted. I'm going to enjoy myself, or else."

"I'm so ready to see what's out there." Vessel grinned, nodding to the underwater camera around his neck. "Been wanting to do this forever but I never found the time. Maybe I'll discover a new species. Then they can name it after Sleep."

"Helps that you don't have to breathe in there." IV waved a plastic shovel in front of himself, pointing it in the direction they were headed. "Me, I'm gonna dig a great big hole and then take a nap in there. And it's going to be the most fulfilling thing I've done in weeks."

II offered an amused smile as he stepped forward, gesturing with his umbrella. "And I'm—" he started, but then he paused, frowning as he glanced around, pointing at Vessel and IV in turn. "Hold on, where the hell is III?" He turned, but III was nowhere to be found.

IV shrugged, gesturing behind them with his shovel. "He went over there to look at something. Said he was only gonna be a second. I... thought he'd be back by now."

"I told him to stay with us until we've got the place figured out." II sighed, massaging his temples. "Had to make sure it was truly empty, you know? Sleep said it would be, but..." He didn't need to mention his general lack of trust in Sleep. "Don't need him getting lost before we even get to enjoy anything."

"It'll be fine, II. What could even happen?" IV asked. "He knows what direction we're going. We can just call him over once we're set up. He probably just got distracted looking at a crab or something."

"Knowing III, it could be anything," II said, a sound of annoyance escaping his throat. "It'd be just like him to end up falling in or getting attacked by a giant squid or something."

Vessel perked up. "Oh, I have to see that! I can take photos, and then we can get them printed, and put them up on the fridge—"

IV laughed. "Next album cover, then? III getting attacked by a giant squid? When we get a live album out, anyway." He gestured with his shovel. "I think it'd look great."

Vessel grinned and opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could say anything, a loud scream tore through the air, followed by a jolt of pain that traveled through all of them.

IV's eyes grew wide as everyone's attention snapped in the direction III had apparently gone. "Fuck, that was III!"

"I told him to stay with us!" II practically skidded through the sand as he immediately turned and rushed in the opposite direction, searching for the sound. "Where the hell is he..." Vessel and IV quickly followed behind. III had gone a little further than they'd expected, and they had to go for a bit to find him.

"Guys?" As dark clouds rolled in, III stumbled towards them, hunched over, covered in blood and seemingly on fire. He took a halting step forward, the blood dripping onto the sand marking the path he'd taken to get there. There was so much. "We are fucking under attack!"

II wasn't sure what he was looking at, at first. The flames were the most distracting part of the ordeal, followed by the blood gushing out of a concerning amount of fresh wounds all over his limbs. III's gold and black mask was on, too, when it hadn't been before, and odd protrusions were pushing their way out of his head. To top it all off, it seemed like something was sticking out of his back. Some kind of colorful pieces of cloth fluttered from the top of them.

II stared for a moment, trying to make sense of it all, but he quickly shook his head and told himself to focus. The most important part was taking care of the fire and the bleeding. They could worry about the other things later. He rushed to III's side, gesturing for Vessel and IV to follow along.

"III, what the hell happened?" II snapped. "What is all this?"

"You tell me," III grunted, spitting blood out onto the sand. The flames slowly died out as he collapsed to his knees, the blood still pouring out of his mouth. The protrusions on the side of his head kept growing, apparently some kind of horns, curling outward and ending in a sharp point.

"Fuck." So much for a vacation. II looked III over, getting a better view at least without all the fire in the way. "You're losing a lot of blood." He knew Sleep wouldn't let III die, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He could certainly feel a fraction of it through the connection that ran through them. "Sit down, love. Ivy? Lay your towel down, right there. We're going to rest III on it."

IV spread his oversized beach towel out on the sand, carefully laying it out flat over the ground so III wouldn't get any sand in his wounds. Once it was situated, III groaned as IV and Vessel helped him lay down on the towel.

"On his stomach," II directed as they worked. "We need to check those things on his back out."

From what II could discern, there were two strange flagpoles sticking out of III's back, with another one clutched tightly in his hand even as he lay down. Each of them had a different flag attached towards the top, while III's other hand held one without a pole. Vessel crouched down and gently pulled the pole out of III's hand so he could get a look at it.

"Harpoons," Vessel said, gently running a hand over the strange shaft of the pole as he inspected the bloody end. The whole thing was encrusted with a strange red substance, like some kind of slightly soft red crystal, and it had a black flag with a red bull on top. "III, don't pull any more of those out. They're designed to catch on your flesh and stay there. You have to remove them carefully."

III groaned in pain. "Wasn't... planning on it. The first one disappeared anyway."

"Vessel," II said, "get the first aid kit. It's in the black bag. Once you've got that, help get those things out of his back. IV, you stay with III."

"Yeah." Vessel set the harpoon down in the sand and dug around in one of the big bags, pulling out various beach-ready items until he found the first aid kit, handing it over to II. Once II had it, he knelt down next to III and gripped one of the harpoons with his hands to slowly work it out of his back.

II flipped the kit open and dug around for just long enough to find what he needed. He started to clean III's wounds with one of the wipes from the kit, touch as gentle as he could manage, although III still made noises as he did.

"So much for our holiday," III muttered, letting out a pained grunt as Vessel finally pulled one of the harpoons free.

"Where did the attack even come from?" IV asked, kneeling up by III's head. "How do you just harpoon a bloke like that and just... disappear?"

"I don't know." III shook his head. "I— I didn't even notice anything until suddenly everything hurt and it was too hot and I had a bloody massive headache and there were all these—"

"Shhh, love. We've got you. It's okay." IV smiled, kissing him softly on the forehead, careful not to put much pressure on any of his wounds. "None of it's your fault."

"Well if he wouldn't have—" II started as he worked on cleaning III up, but Vessel placed a hand on his shoulder and II looked back at him.

"II," Vessel said, voice gentle. "Let's deal with that bit later, yeah? I don't think it's going to help anything right now."

II took a deep breath and let it out, posture relaxing a bit as he did. "Yeah. Sorry. I just... This whole thing is frustrating."

Vessel nodded. "I know, II. But I know it's frustrating for him, too. Maybe a little more than that, yeah? You felt it. We all did. He's feeling that the whole time, far more intensely than us."

"Right." II's attention turned back to III, his expression a little less on the harsh side this time. "Sorry. Do you remember anything else?" he asked.

III shook his head. "It was... I was just looking around, and suddenly I got turned around more than I expected, forgot which way we were going. I was trying to head back before... everything started hurting."

II looked down at the blood on the sand. "That's... something's definitely wrong." If this section of the beach was truly deserted, what could have attacked III? The flagpole harpoons didn't exactly seem like something a regular person would come after them with, and they didn't particularly have any beef with anybody at the moment. There could only be one culprit for something like this, right? Or at least someone who'd have an idea. "Sleep, what the fuck is happening?" II asked, staring up at the cloudy sky. It hadn't looked like this earlier, but all the sun was gone now.

"Maybe It's not paying attention. Hold on, I'll ask." Vessel sat there with his eyes closed for a moment, murmuring a question under his breath, waiting for a response. He sat there for a full minute as II kept cleaning up III's wounds, but eventually Vessel opened his eyes and there was no change. "Nothing." There was clear concern in his voice. "Sleep's never been this silent before."

II groaned, shaking his head. "Okay. Great. That's not bloody ominous or anything." He closed up the first aid kit and stood up. "Guess we're not going to get any answers for now. Let's go home, regroup. Get III cleaned up a little better than I can do out here. Maybe Sleep'll decide to make an appearance sometime then."

"What about our holiday?" III asked as IV helped to get him to his feet. Vessel picked the blanket up after him. He moved to take the harpoons, too, but they quickly dissolved into the sand, flags and all. The only flag left was the blue one with the green plants still clutched in III's hand, its own harpoon long-gone.

II gave III a blank look. "You're bloody injured and you're worried about the holiday? We need to get home so you can recover and we can figure out just what the hell that was."

III waved a hand. "Right, but I was looking forward to this. Just wrap me all up mummy style, I'll be fine. Good as new, no problem."

Blinking in surprise, II shook his head. "III, you're not fine. You're bleeding. You were on fire!" He didn't seem to have any burns or anything, but it still seemed pretty important. "This isn't something that can be fixed by a plaster or two. We're going home."

"You're going home," III said, opening up the remaining bloodstained flag and spreading it out on the sand like it was a beach towel, despite not being remotely the right size for it. "I'm enjoying the beach. We've essentially got this thing rented out for the day and I intend to make use of it. If we come back tomorrow, there's gonna be a billion people here and we'll hate it."

"What if whatever that was comes back?" IV asked.

"We know we're looking out for something this time!" III insisted. "If II's so worried, he can have guard duty and the rest of us can play around. Come on, let's build a sandcastle or something."

Instead of dignifying him with a verbal response, II grabbed III by one of his horns and started pulling him back towards where they'd parked the car.

"Ow! Fuck! II! Let go!" III shouted, waving his arms around, trying to dig his heels into the sand. "Ow! I'm injured! I just got that thing! You can't do this to me!"

"Nonsense. It's the perfect shape for this." Despite his protests, II didn't stop until III got the hint and started walking, Vessel and IV in tow.

Once they made it home, II paced back and forth on the floor in front of the others who gathered around sitting on the couch.

"Could you stand still?" III asked. "You're making even me nervous with all that pacing."

II finally stopped, turning to look at the others. "Until we figure out what's happening," he said, "we're going to stick together. If anyone needs to go anywhere, we all go. Nobody's going to be caught by themselves anymore, not while there's something out there trying to attack us."

"Even in the toilet?" III asked. "Are you planning to watch?" He spun a finger around in the air. "I think I'm going to have to ask you to turn around, I can't go if you're staring at me."

II rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

III's mask split in a grin before it knit back together again. "I know. I'm hilarious."

"So how are we going to find out what's happening?" Vessel asked, looking down at his hands. "I... don't even know the first place to start anymore. Sleep's always there when things like this happen. I... don't know what to do without It. I feel... lost."

"Vess, love, we'll figure it out," II said, stepping forward to grab Vessel's hands in his. "Breathe. We both know you're smart. I know you've got a few ideas up in there, hm?" He reached up and tucked a bit of Vessel's hair behind his ear. "We can always brainstorm together too. All of us. Even III."

"Yeah. Yeah! Ideas. I've got ideas." Vessel nodded. "I'll... I'll think of something!"

"I know you will, love," II said with a fond smile before his attention snapped back towards III and IV. "Anyway. Since we're not entirely sure how any of this happens, we'll be staying together so we can all act as each other's lookouts. Try not to be by yourself as much as possible. At home, being in pairs is fine, as I don't think they'll be able to infiltrate. We've got enough protections in place for that. But when we're out, it's all of us. Got that? Just in case."

"Yeah," IV said with a nod. "We've got it."

"III, Vessel and I are going to gather up medical supplies so we can properly patch you up," II said, reaching out to grab Vessel's hand and help him up from the couch. "Ivy, keep an eye on him until we come back."

IV nodded and turned to look at III as Vessel stood up and left with II.

"Looks like that leaves us for now," III said, leaning back on the cushion behind him, wincing a little at the motion during his attempt to get comfortable.

"They know we can at least be trusted together," IV teased. "Because I'm well-behaved. How are you feeling?"

"More sore than I've ever been in my life, but nothing I can't handle. As long as I don't make any sudden moves. I feel like everything's healing pretty normally. Normal for us, anyway." With a good laugh, III tried to bump his head against IV's in an affectionate gesture from the side, then he groaned when his horns got in the way. "Stupid bloody horns," he grumbled. "Hate these stupid things already. All they do is get in the way."

"I think they look good on you," IV said, gently nudging him down so he could kiss him, careful to avoid his wounds.

"Stupid bloody extremely attractive horns," III muttered, but he happily pressed into the kiss.

"That's better." IV laughed.

II came back with a basket full of bandages and reached out to help III to his feet. "Come, we're going to run you a bath and get you properly patched up."

III got up with II's help and held his arms out to either side as he followed him towards the bathroom. "Alright, II, do your worst."

Unfortunately they couldn't just stay inside forever. Their house wasn't easily accessible enough to get everything they ever needed delivered straight to their door, and while it was III's job to go shopping this time, of course as per the recent new rule everyone had to go. It was for the better, anyway; as bandaged up as III was now, even without the threat of further attacks it'd be a pain to get everything himself.

"It won't take long," II insisted as they walked through the aisles. "We really only need the essentials. We can go out for more another time when we don't have so much to worry about."

"What about the long list of sweets I've compiled?" III asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket to show II an actual list made in the notes app. "See, I've gone through a terrible experience and I need absolutely everything on this list, in order, so I can feel better."

II rolled his eyes as they passed a lobster tank. "III, we have plenty of snacks at home. Including a good portion of this list, now that I look at it."

"But you are looking at it," III said. "You know, if I was going by myself I could get all the treats I wanted," he insisted. "I wouldn't have to sit here and beg you for it. This tyranny is absurd."

"Choose one," II said, rubbing the space between his eyes as he moved to grab some of the items on his list. "One we don't already have. We're trying to get out of here quickly before anything else comes after us."

"Score!" III pumped his fist into the air, then groaned a bit as the movement exacerbated his healing wounds.

II rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but snort a bit in laughter.

"Ha, made you laugh. I'll take that one as a win. Now, you three have fun, I'll be collecting my prize," III said, taking a step forward.

"Not so fast," II said, grabbing the back of III's shirt before he could move any further. "We're sticking together. We'll go get your stuff when we're done here. You can wait a few minutes, can't you?"

"I don't know..." III said, tapping his foot impatiently. "It'll be pretty hard."

II leveled a stare at him. "You can handle it. Now grab me these things off the list over there, would you?" he asked, holding the list up and tapping at a few refrigerated items.

As III went to get the stuff II asked for, II turned, briefly, moving past the lobster tank to grab a package of meat on the other side. Then, the only thing he could process was pain, worse than he'd felt in a long time, right in the middle of his back. It stopped him in his tracks and he staggered forward, and then back. Slowly his eyes grew wide as he realized what that had to mean. His mouth opened, but no sound came out at first. Then, after a few moments, a pained shout escaped his throat.

"Fuck!" Vessel rushed to his side, grabbing II by the shoulders. "I felt that. Are you alright?" When II didn't answer, Vessel turned him around to get a look at the single red-encrusted harpoon sticking out of his back, a flag attached to the top.

"Fuck, they got him," IV said, quickly showing up behind Vessel.

III shook his head as he joined IV. "In the middle of the aisle, even. Bit undignified."

While they hadn't seen where it came from, at least whatever it was hadn't done more. As the surprise wore off, II shook his head, leaning on a nearby shelf for stability. "Fuck," he muttered. "I didn't... I didn't even see anything."

"Nobody did," III said. "Breathe."

That's essentially all II could do, anyway. Despite the pain being mainly localized in his back, it radiated out to the rest of his body, making him groan. Despite it all, though, the few people in the area simply stepped around him if they bothered going down the aisle at all.

At least there was that. II didn't exactly want to be here, vulnerable as hell, making the worst noises he could possibly manage in the middle of all the groceries. II's mask patterned over his face slowly as he groaned, fingers reaching up to touch.

When II pulled his fingers away from the mask, visible electricity crackled around his arms. One of the lights overhead popped. His masked face vibrated for a moment, but it stopped moving soon enough.

When it seemed the electricity was done for the moment, Vessel grasped the harpoon, gently but firmly, intending to slowly work it out of II's back. He started to move his hands carefully, but after just a moment the weapon dissolved in his hand, leaving only the flag fluttering to the floor. III went to pick it up, lifting it up for IV to look at. It was black, with a red bull on it, the same as one of the flags on the harpoons that had hit III that hadn't stuck around.

"I knew we were forgetting something," III said, glancing back over at II, waving the flag at him. "Didn't even get you your Red Bull, did we? We should pick up a case while we're here."

II couldn't help it; despite everything he laughed, escaping him as a loud sort of honking noise, choked off by the pain of the wound. At least there wasn't a weapon in there anymore, letting it start healing, but it still hurt. Had to be nothing compared to what had happened to III, though, with only one wound. Still, II found himself going over every possible way he could have prevented this.

"Breathe, my love," Vessel said, gently holding II in his arms as he felt his mind racing. "You're going to be okay."

"Fuck. I was... I couldn't stop it." II groaned. "I should have been paying attention. I should have... I should have done something about it! If I'd seen what happened, I could have..."

"What did you think you were gonna do?" III asked. "Deflect it with your force field?" He held his hand out. "Hey. Look. I'm still fine, okay? Look. Good as new. Yeah, I could do without the horns, and the mask would be way too recognizable if anybody noticed it, and I'm still fucking sore, but it's fine. Nobody notices. I was only on fire that one time." As if on cue, his head shot up in flames for a second before they snuffed out instantly. "And that time. But you're way better at handling stuff than I am. You're gonna be fine!"

"I know you're trying to help—" II started.

"Is it helping?" III asked, continuing to keep his hand in reach of II's, and while his smirk wasn't visible, it was certainly tangible.

II stared at III silently for just a little too long before he sighed and placed his hand in III's. "Maybe a little bit."

"There we go. Lemme see that smile." There was nothing but pure triumph in III's voice as he and Vessel helped II get to his feet.

II stared at him and gestured towards the mask now covering his face.

III shrugged a shoulder. "Okay, new phrasing, lemme feel that smile."

II just stared at him again.

III patted his shoulder and grinned as he pulled back. "We'll work on it. You'll be able to figure it out. I believe in you."

"Where did it come from, anyway?" Vessel asked. "I swear, Ivy and I were looking at both possible exits. Even with III going to grab something, you didn't have a moment where anything could come through without us noticing. Unless... it came from above?" He frowned, looking up at the ceiling. "But I saw how it was in there. It wouldn't have gone in at that angle if it came from that direction..."

"I don't know! I just turned and..." II stood in front of the tank to demonstrate where he'd been standing, arms held out exasperatedly to the sides. "I was here. I could've seen things coming for me in both directions, and then the harpoon ended up in my back! I hadn't even turned towards either of those directions. There was nothing behind me but—" He stopped, blinked once, and slowly turned to look at what was directly behind him: the lobster tank.

IV stared, his attention soon glancing between II and the tank of water he was looking directly at. The lobsters inside the tank didn't seem particularly perturbed by anything, climbing over each other idly. "You... don't think it's the bloody lobster tank, do you?"

"I... I don't know..." II said. "But... it's the only thing that was there." He stepped forward. "Nothing's disturbed around it, like anything came up behind it."

"You mean we've been checking all possible exits when it could have been anything in the water the whole time?" III asked, hands lifting up in surrender. "Fuck. That's stupid."

II stared down at the floor, eyes wide, before he shook his head and stood up a little straighter. "Alright. Well, that's all we can do. Let's just pay for this and go home, alright? I think I'd like to stop bleeding."

"Hey, at least you didn't get harpooned as much as I did," III said, about to clap II on the back, but he quickly stopped himself before he caused any problems. "I think you can consider that one a win."

The drive home felt a hell of a lot longer than it actually took. IV drove, letting Vessel help II in the back seat while III messed around with the radio in the front. Eventually, even though it felt like it took a million years, they made it back home.

Vessel and IV took care of the groceries while III stayed back to make sure II was okay.

"I'm fine," II insisted, trying to step past III to follow the others into the house and get to the kitchen. He'd already been thwarted in his attempt to help bring some of the bags in. "I don't have the same sort of wounds you've got. We've just got a bit to clean up and I'll be okay."

"You sound just like me," III said, gently grabbing hold of II's arm to help him through the front door despite his obvious annoyance at the whole situation.

"I do not," II insisted.

"You absolutely do." III laughed. "You just want to keep going no matter what. Only you want to work while I wanted to play."

"If you don't shut the—" Before II could finish his sentence, though, his face seemed to wobble a bit like it had in the supermarket, and then the lower section of it split open along the lines of his mask. He made a distressed noise as he reached up to touch the strange sections peeling away from his face.

"Fuck, II, are you okay?" III asked, leaning in to get a look at what had happened to his face. It wasn't just his mask splitting, apparently; what was behind it seemed like the inside of a mouth. It took III all of his effort not to stick a finger in.

"Fine," II groaned, shoving the sections of his face back together with his hands until they were mostly in their usual places. "Perfectly bloody fine." His face stayed together for a moment before the sections spread open again, a set of sharp teeth lining each edge. "Fuck."

"It's okay, II," Vessel said, gently nudging III towards IV as he stepped in. "We can work on this. Come on."

"Easy for you to say," II snapped, then he quickly shook his head and held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No, no, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. I'm just... a bit on edge. I want to keep you from going through this."

"I mean, if anyone's going to be alright going through it, it's me, right?" Vessel gestured towards his face. "I've already got the eye thing. I know what it's like to have your body change like that, when it's something you can't really properly hide. For the rest of you everything you've got's been a lot less... visible until now."

II didn't look completely convinced, but there wasn't much he could do. "Suppose you're right..."

"I am right." Vessel gently nudged II's chin so he'd look upwards at him and he helped to smooth the parts of his face down until they caught in their original places. "Now stop beating yourself up for something nobody could have easily figured out, yeah? You do so much for us."

"I don't feel like I'm doing much right now," II muttered.

"Well, you do." Vessel leaned down and kissed II on his masked lips. "I love you no matter what you look like. You were so supportive of me when I changed, so now it's my turn."

II gave Vessel a squeeze. "Thanks, Vess. I just wish we knew what we were dealing with. It's... tearing me up not knowing. I should have gone to find III the second I noticed he was gone, maybe I could have taken care of it before anything actually happened. Still no sign of Sleep?"

Vessel shook his head. "Not at all. Feels... empty. It's different from when Sleep is purposefully trying to avoid us. Usually then I can at least partially feel Its presence. Right now it's just... nobody there."

"I haven't felt It in the air at all either," II said. "Usually there's at least something to indicate It's watching. This is... concerning."

"Yeah. I've tried a few methods of contact and nothing's worked. So I was thinking... what if we do a ritual together?" Vessel asked. "A proper old school ritual, all four of us together at the altar. It should... it should at least bring Sleep's attention to us, maybe relay a message if something's wrong."

"I think it's worth a try," II said. "If nothing happens, we're not any worse off than we already were."

Vessel let out a relieved sigh. "Good, because my next idea was a proper concert ritual and that might not go so well on such short notice."

"Not happening," II said. "Even if we did something stripped down, we'd need security at the very least, and there's no time to get them sorted. Management might actually kill us."

"Thought not," Vessel said. "That's why I'm hoping this works."

II gave Vessel a squeeze. "Me too, love." There was a pause. "Alright, let's take care of this thing before it pisses me off any more."

Vessel lay a fresh black cloth out on Sleep's altar, gently smoothing out the wrinkles with his hands as II moved over to the nearby cupboard. Once the cloth was in place, Vessel set a few candle holders in strategic locations before glancing over towards II. "Ready for the candles," he said, holding his hand out.

II let out a heavy, tired sigh as he turned in Vessel's direction and held up a fistful of what were supposed to be long black tapered candles, now drooping over the side of his hand. They looked a bit like he felt, frankly. "Well, I don't think they're ready for you. Tell me why all our candles melted?"

"Heat wave?" Vessel suggested. "It's been unreasonably warm and the aircon's never properly worked in here. This has always been the worst spot in the house. I think it's Sleep's fault." 

III's eyes widened when he got a good look at the candles, a finger pointing towards them. "They've gone flaccid!" he called, barely containing his laughter.

"Do we really need candles?" IV asked. "We've managed to make do with substitutes before. Sleep isn't usually picky as long as our intent's there, right? And we've got a lot of intent."

"Maybe normally, but I think we're going to need every possible ritual method we can find," Vessel said, taking the wilted candles from III. "Sleep's never been this distant before, we need to get Its attention by any means necessary. And... we appear to be low on a lot of supplies. It was fine for a normal, every day ritual, but for this... we need more."

"Which means stocking up," IV said.

"Unfortunately yes," Vessel said. "Which means another trip out before we can get this done."

II placed his face in his hands. "I can't believe we have to go out again. This was supposed to be the simple part. You always keep up with your ritual supplies."

"Until we get thwarted by the weather. Just think of it as us getting some more quality time together," III said, elbowing II playfully. "Just this once."

"Usually when we have quality time together we don't have to worry about getting attacked," II groaned. 

"It'll spice things up!" III insisted, continuing to elbow II until II grabbed his elbow and shoved it away. "Besides, now there's only two people to worry about. It'll be easier to watch Vessel and Ivy, they're the best behaved ones of the lot."

"Excuse me?" II asked, eyes narrowing.

III smirked at him. "You're excused."

II let out a heavy sigh and headed towards the doorway after Vessel. "Fine. You'd all better behave."

"Don't worry," Vessel said as they walked in through the door of his favorite metaphysical shop. "I've got a list and I'm a regular. I know what we need, they know what I need; we're not going to be long."

"We'd better not be," II grumbled, stalking behind Vessel as he went to find what he was looking for, apparently having the layout of the shop memorized. "Every second we're out is another opportunity for something to attack."

As II and Vessel disappeared further into the shop, III and IV slowly followed behind, idly peering at the items on the shelves. A tiny, unassuming fountain bubbled in the middle of the room, different sorts of stones haphazardly placed around it. Nobody gave it a further glance.

"Gonna watch you," III said, standing close to IV as III picked up half of a geode and peered inside. "It's just you and me, Ivy. You and me against the world. And those guys, but we don't have to pay attention to them."

"I heard that," II said. "Don't stray too far behind. You know what happens if you do."

"Yeah, yeah." III waved the geode at II rudely before he set it back down on the shelf and picked up another one. "Look, this one looks pissed off. Looks just like II, doesn't it?" He turned it over in his hand. "You know, one time I went in here with Vess, and I swear someone put googly eyes on one of the stones. Not me, mind you. Wish I thought of it first. We should get some eyes for this thing."

"Next time we don't have to worry about anything getting us, we should go to the craft shop, get one of those little bags of eyes. Glad to see you've still got your whimsy, by the way," IV said, a wide smile on his face.

III grinned enough for it to just about split the mask, lacing his fingers with IV's after sitting the other geode down. "Can't keep a fun man down," he said. "Can you imagine me going fully serious just because I got stabbed an absurd amount of times? Absolutely not."

III's mask covered his lips up once again as they slowly browsed the shelf, hand in hand, peering at crystal after crystal.

After a particularly amusing bit of commentary, IV turned to smile at III. Instead of saying anything, III pressed his masked lips to IV's bare ones. IV pulled back after a bit, grinning widely at him.

III smiled at IV with his eyes, then glanced in the direction of the others, eyes widening when he saw how far they'd gone. "Ah, hold on, they're getting too far. They might get lost in the incense. Wait for us!" III called and turned to follow, hand still clutching IV's as he tugged him towards the direction the other two had gone.

Before he got very far, though, a choked noise rang out from behind him and he slowly turned in horror, knowing exactly what that meant. The flash of pain that had gone through his head had made it perfectly clear, after all.

IV stared back at him, eyes wide, a familiar harpoon sticking out of his back, the yellow flag on top fluttering in the nonexistent breeze.

III reached for him before he started to rush towards him, the distance not far at all. "Fuck! Ivy! No!" But he couldn't reach him soon enough. IV fell to his knees and III followed him, holding him close. "Fuck... I was supposed to be watching you," III murmured. "I didn't... I... fuck!" He glanced up, searching for the source. What was behind IV? A shelf full of tarot card decks, and in front of it, decorated with small crystals... "The bloody fountain. It's water. That... that counted? It's tiny!"

IV looked up at him with a light smile on his face, gently grabbing III's hand and giving it a squeeze. "III... promise I'll be fine. You and II turned out okay." It didn't take long before IV's mask spread over his face to match III's, which maybe wasn't so concerning when it had happened to III and II already. What was more of a surprise was when it stopped and his ears slowly moved up towards the top of his head. He gasped, patting the side of his head where his ears had originally been, then slowly followed their trajectory up to the top, where they stood, floppy and fuzzy and twitching. "What the—?"

"'What the' is right," III said. "You've got like... bloody puppy ears." Not that he didn't expect something to happen based on both himself and II, but for some reason the idea of something like getting actual dog ears never crossed his mind. They seemed too... fun. Although maybe some people might find getting horns to be fun as well, he wasn't sure. He thought they sucked. IV's puppy ears, though, he liked. "They're cute."

IV's fluffy ears pulled back as he let out a soft growl, though, raising his free hand and clenching it into a fist. When III squeezed IV's other hand, the ears returned to their neutral state. The water in the fountain bubbled until a jet shot up into the air.

"Ivy?" III asked as he blinked. "What the hell was that?"

"I dunno." IV stared at his hand, then rolled it around, but this time nothing happened. "It was just something I felt like doing. Glad I did it." IV's smile reached his eyes and he squeezed III's hand again.

III let out a sigh of relief. "Fuck, I was worried. Thought something really bad might've happened."

"Told you I'd be fine." IV's ears twitched, and a wide mouth ripped open through his mask, covered in sharp teeth. He smiled at III and then his face knit back together.

"Ivy?" II asked, coming up behind them. "III, I told—" he started, but he didn't get far.

Vessel grabbed II's shoulder and shook his head. "This was my fault. I went ahead without checking if we were all together, and I didn't sweep the room to make sure there weren't any water sources. If you're going to yell at someone, yell at me."

II stared at him, and his shoulders relaxed. "It was my fault too," he admitted. "I didn't look either. I'm supposed to be the one keeping us all in line. I didn't even notice that bloody fountain."

III sighed and held a hand out. "Let's just all share the blame, yeah? I saw the fountain, but I thought it was too small for a bloody harpoon to come out of it."

"Fine," II said, pulling one of the wipes from the first aid kit out of his pocket and handing it over to III. "It's all our faults. III, clean Ivy up while we're finishing up here, alright? And stay away from the bloody fountain in case anything other than a harpoon can come out of there."

III turned back to look at IV, reaching out to scratch behind one of his ears. IV seemed very pleased by the action, so he made sure to keep doing it.
"Soon as Vessel gets all this gathered up and paid for, we're going home. Gonna help you get a bath. Then we'll do the ritual and see if we can figure this out. And if we can't, fuck it, we'll figure it out anyway."

IV smiled, grabbing his hand. "Thanks, III."

As they went back past the shelf they'd been looking at before, IV grabbed the angry-looking geode and brought it over to the counter with all of Vessel's hand-picked supplies.

"Okay. Let's do this." III dumped the shopping bag's contents onto Sleep's altar. Candles rolled this way and that, supplies scattered haphazardly around the flat surface, and the geode from earlier skidded to a halt in the middle.

"III, we do need to be a little more intentional with this," Vessel said, gathering up the candles and placing them in their holders before he carefully started to sort out all the other items scattered around the altar. "This is an important ritual. We can't have Sleep stabilize it if It's not currently present, yeah?"

"You need to be more intentional," III scoffed. "Me and Ivy are along for the ride."

"Just be careful, please, love," Vessel said. "We don't want to have to go out again. That fountain's a menace." He stepped back from the candles and reached for a book of matches, but III placed a hand on it before Vessel could grab it. Vessel looked at him with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Hold on, Vess, I got this," III said. "Fire, remember?"

"Do you?" Vessel asked, blinking his middle pair of eyes. "Have you even practiced?"

"I got this!" III repeated, not even bothering to answer Vessel's question, the answer to which was "no." He stuck out a finger to demonstrate and his entire arm burst into flames. He groaned, shook his head, and the flames disappeared again. "Hold on... hold on..." he muttered. Finally, a single flame shot out of his fingertip, although still a stronger one than he intended, melting the wax a little as he lit the candle. "There!"

"Okay... fine. That'll probably be better for Sleep, anyway. Better intentions." Vessel placed his mask over his face and III lit the candles one by one as II turned the light off. The others no longer needed to put masks on, which, II thought, felt odd.

They stood back in their places as Vessel knelt by the altar and spoke, chanting quietly in an attempt to summon Sleep, something they hadn't needed to do in a while. When it seemed like things had gone on a little too long, Vessel groaned and his eyes closed as his head fell to the side. When he opened them again, they were a solid black.

"Sleep!" III said, eyes wide as he pointed at Vessel. "You fucking bastard!"

"Where the fuck have you been?" II asked. "We've been having a bloody emergency and you've been completely silent."

"Maybe don't try to antagonize the supernatural entity that keeps our lives in Its hands," Vessel said, his eyes briefly glowing red before they turned black again.

"No," II said dryly. "Sleep knows how I feel about It. Maybe the familiarity will help encourage It to give us some insight in to what the hell It's been doing."

"My vessels," Sleep said, raising Vessel's body to his feet, holding his arms out to the sides. "Know that I have not abandoned you. I have been trying to contact you. This I can promise. This ritual has given me a window to speak, but we do not have much time."

"What's going on, Sleep?" IV asked.

"I authorized your rest period because after these last rituals it seemed as if things were going well in My realm," Sleep said. "There is the usual level of conflict, however it was nothing I could not handle. However... there appears to be some sort of uprising I had not planned for."

"Uprising?" II raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"It turned out that things seeming quieter than usual was a problem. This was not an accidental peace. When I investigated, I discovered some of those who live in the aquatic areas had been... disappearing." Sleep took a deep breath. "They have been getting bold. Something is... trying to take you from me."

"I could tell," II said. "What the hell are these things?"

"Creatures that are slowly gaining the ability to cross over into your realm from Mine. Some of the residents have managed to bridge a previously unknown gap in dimensions, which I may have inadvertently created when I offered you that empty bit of land for your holiday. They are targeting you, my vessels, in an attempt to get to Me. They want to overthrow Me. I am doing what I can to contain it, but as I am sure you can tell..."

"I thought those harpoons didn't feel very domestic," Vessel said when Sleep trailed off.

"I have no idea how you can tell, but let's unpack that later," III said.

"So what do we do?" IV asked. "Vessel's the only one who hasn't been changed by these... things yet."

"Protect him at any cost," II said. "He's already been changed enough by Sleep, he doesn't need more of it."

"Look, I appreciate that, but I think we should work on taking care of them no matter what," Vessel said. "If I get hit, I get hit. I don't think those things are here just to give us a few upgrades."

"Sleep, what can we do?" IV asked.

"Keep your eyes open," Sleep said. "Provide further worship. If I can regain more power... With your assistance, I am certain that I can rein them in."

"It's always worship, worship, worship. What the hell do we even do all day?" III asked. "We've got about a billion fans all around the world and that's not enough?"

"This needs a more concentrated ritual than the usual passive worship from the masses," Sleep said. "Now, I need to conserve My strength. I will return when I have more information. I promise you this, my vessels, with further power I will be able to assist. Worship."

Vessel made a sort of choking noise. He blinked and shook his head quickly as his eyes returned to normal. "Ah, always freaks me out a bit when we share. It must have really needed to get the information out quick."

"Vess..." II said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Vessel took a deep breath and turned to smile at II. "Guess we've got some work to do."

"So. Worship. I'm going to assume our daily existence isn't going to cut it this time," Vessel said as they gathered near the front door. "Didn't get any extra internal insight this time, probably because Sleep was having trouble in the first place. I think It probably would have done a full takeover if It could. That means we really need to get It a quick infusion of power."

"So, what, we call the merch people? Social media? III, you're good at that," II said. "Put out a... a call to worship or something."

"Like you're not scrolling 24/7," III said. "You do it. Post a drum cam. Everyone loves when you post a drum cam."

"You could post that bass cam you've been hiding," Vessel teased. "That'll help."

"Might be the best we can do on such short notice..." II mused.

"We could do one of those car washes," IV offered, miming cleaning a car with a cloth. "Like they do for charity, only they pay in worship instead of cash."

Vessel laughed. "Can you imagine what people would say?"

"I can," III said, holding his arms out. "I saw Vessel's tits up close! I'm never washing this car again!"

"That might be a bit short-notice, but I think we can easily all post something," II said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "The attention we get by just being in the forefront of our followers' minds should at least give Sleep something to work with. Get them talking, maybe get something trending. That'll give us time to gather everything we might need."

"That's a good idea. While you work on that, I'm going out to the garden to get a few more herbs," Vessel said. "We'll probably need them if we need to do another ritual. And if not... it'll still be good to have them. Come with me, II?"

"Of course," II said, expertly working on crafting his post while still paying attention to Vessel. "I'm still not letting you out of my sight."

Vessel stepped out of the house and past a birdbath to get to the place he had a number of herbs planted, both for ritualistic purposes and for cooking. II followed behind, putting the finishing touches on his post before sending it and shoving his phone back into his pocket.

When Vessel crouched down to start harvesting the plants. II crouched next to him, staring intently at him. Everything was quiet for a bit as Vessel worked, the quiet movements of Vessel's work making II smile, at least internally. Even such basic movements still had II captivated by Vessel's hands. It was a calm refuge in what had been such a hectic time so far, and while II never took his eyes off Vessel, he was quite surprised when Vessel lurched forward with a loud grunt of pain. "Ah, fuck!"

II looked wide-eyed at him, doing a double take. He slowly peered to the side and there it was: the telltale harpoon, stuck in Vessel's back. "Vessel!" he shouted. "How did I— How did you—" he sputtered, staring back to find what had to be the culprit, the only hint of standing water in the area behind Vessel. "The... the fucking bird bath? How did anything get through there?"

"Don't... don't worry about me," Vessel grunted. He reached behind himself, got as good of a good grip on the shaft of the harpoon as he was going to get, and slowly started to work it out of his body. "It's... I'm sure it was inevitable."

II threw his hands up over his head. "I'm worrying! This is our bloody home! I was watching you! They shouldn't be able to get us here!" He reached for the harpoon, fingers grazing over the red substance that covered it.

Vessel smiled at him. "I know, love. But... sometimes these things happen." Before he could fully pull the harpoon out, though, it dissolved, leaving the flag fluttering to the ground.

II gathered the flag up, stretching it out in front of him. It was slightly iridescent with a unicorn on it, the same style as all the others. He looked over at Vessel.

"Well," Vessel said. "That's that, then. All four of the flags that attacked III. Now... I suppose we just wait and see what happens. Until then... well, we've got some work to do, don't we?" Vessel moved in silence for a moment, continuing to gather up the herbs as if nothing had happened.

II stared at him, at a loss for words. There was another beat where nothing seemed to happen. II opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly Vessel cried out in pain. He hunched over and a huge set of tentacles burst out of his back all at once, writhing against each other.

"Vessel!" II stared wide-eyed at the mass of new limbs, reaching a hand out.

"I'm... fine," Vessel said. "Promise. This is... it's just taking on more of Sleep's form, yeah? Nothing too... different..."

"What's happening?" III's voice came first before he and IV came out of the house, slamming the door on their way out. "Did... did something happen?"

"We heard a bunch of noise coming from out here!" IV said.

"Vessel's been... well." II gestured over at him. "They got him."

Before anyone could say anything else, two points of bone dug out of Vessel's forehead, bursting out of the flesh and leaving him bleeding. It slowly overtook his face, curving until it took the shape of his mask, Sleep's sigil tracing itself out of the blood. It dripped towards the bottom next, twisting the bottom into various thin swirls of stained bone.

Eventually, it was quiet, aside from Vessel's panting. Vessel reached up to gently trace the new mask with his fingertips. "Wow," he said, quietly, reverently.

"Vessel?" II asked, reaching for him tentatively.

Vessel gripped II's hands, fanged teeth glinting in his wide smile. The herbs he'd been harvesting started to float in the air around him. "II, love, that's it! We're done! Maybe this means it's over. They've already got all of us. What else can they do?"

"I don't think they're just going to... hit us with a couple of harpoons and leave it at that," II said.

"No, but we don't have to worry about hiding from them anymore. We can take them head on at this point, right?" Vessel grinned at him enthusiastically.

II didn't seem so sure, but Vessel was so enthusiastic he couldn't bear to be negative about it. "Let's just get some bloody sleep," II grumbled. "It's getting a bit late and at this point I'm just exhausted."

"It'll give people time to talk about the posts, and maybe Sleep'll have something for us in the morning," Vessel said with a nod as he stood up.

Vessel yawned, gripping his mug tightly. He'd been the last to wake up this morning, but maybe his fresh changes meant he needed extra sleep. Or maybe the whole situation just made him extra tired, considering he had to be the one to channel Sleep on top of everything else. Either way, he'd stepped into the kitchen and immediately made a beeline to the kettle. "Morning, II," he said with a quick nod as he turned to look at him.

"Morning, Vess," II said, offering a wave as he sat at the table and ate his breakfast, carefully holding the pieces of his mouth closed as he did.

"Morning II. All good this morning?" Vessel asked.

"As good as it can get, I guess." II shoved his fork into his mouth, the four sections scraping the eggs off of it as he pulled it back out. "Woke up with my mouth all open, had to practically peel it to get it back down. Think I've got some getting used to it to do."

"Must have happened after we went to sleep," Vessel said. "You seemed fine when we got in bed."

"Most likely," II said. "I didn't exactly notice it until I got up."

Before he could say anything else, though, Vessel's head lolled to the side and he dropped his mug, liquid splashing everywhere.

"Ah, fuck," II said, immediately bolting to his feet, dropping his fork on his plate. "Sleep's back!" he called to the others. "It's probably important!"

"Sleep's back?" IV asked as he stepped into the kitchen, III in tow. One of his ears twitched curiously. "Already?"

Vessel's eyes were hard to see now that the mask had overtaken his face, but it was clear Sleep was visiting.

"My vessels," Sleep said. "I have determined what you must do. You must return to the beach. That is where the veil is thinnest, where I can help you the most. I will ensure no one bothers you. My First knows the ritual you must perform; I have given him the instructions. You will all have a part to perform. This will lure them to you."

"So we can all just get harpooned some more?" III asked.

Vessel's head shook. "We will trick the creatures into attacking you. They will try to take you under their control, in an attempt to wrest you from Me. The ritual will use the power I have been given and keep you safe, allowing you to force them into submission. If you then return them to My realm, they will bother you no longer, and I may punish them appropriately. Return to the beach. Perform the ritual. It will provide a stronger connection."

"We're really gonna go back there, huh?" III asked as Vessel shook his head.

"Well, we don't really have another choice," II said. "Either we go back there, or these things are going to keep causing Sleep trouble. And things that cause Sleep trouble are going to cause us trouble.

"I'll gather up our materials," Vessel said. "Get the car ready. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can stop dealing with it. I'll tell you the plan along the way."

The beach was pristine, as if nothing had ever happened. Nobody was there, either, not even visible in the distance. The air was oppressive, the sky dark and cloudy. The water was still, far too still, as if the tides had simply stopped entirely.

Vessel set out a number of items on the shore in a pattern only he understood. Crystals, herbs, bits of bone, and other oddities littered the edge of the beach seemingly without a care in the world, but the others knew Vessel knew what he was doing. He stuck long black candles into the sand, then pointed out places for the others to stand, aside from III, who he beckoned towards him.

III stepped forward to light the candles one by one, moving among them with a purposeful rhythm. When he was done, he blew out his finger and struck a pose.

"What if they don't show?" IV asked.

"Oh, they'll show," III said, crossing his arms as he stepped into his place, glancing over the candles to make sure he'd lit them all properly. "They're gonna want to finish the job."

Vessel stepped back behind the wall of items and crouched down, a hand on the sand. He spoke low, chanting phrases in Sleep's language that the others could mostly understand, soon standing up before everyone with his arms held out wide. As if on cue, the sea started to churn, all stillness gone. The clouds that hung over the water darkened, looking more and more ominous by the second.

"Fuck, something's coming," IV said.

Indeed, something started to emerge from the churning whirlpool in the sea. It was hard to tell what it was at first, mainly looking like a large green lump that got larger as the sea thrashed. Once it came into view enough to get a decent look at it, the large creature appeared to be covered in seaweed, so much so that if there was anything else to its body, it wasn't very visible. It locked eyes with III and started lumbering towards him out of the water.

"Fuck!" III grunted as he stepped back, despite knowing the ritual had provided protections. "Guess I should have expected how big it'd be."

As the seaweed-covered monster focused on III, another movement in the water had the others' attention. This one was about as big and bulky as the seaweed creature, although it resembled a catfish with legs more than the amorphous lump of the other one's shape. The fish had two horns and when it landed on the sand, it started to charge towards II.

Neither of them made it towards their targets. They slammed against an invisible wall where the candles stood, keeping them in place as they tried to push through.

"The barrier's holding up!" Vessel called. "We've got this!"

As the monsters tried to continue pushing forward, there was a pause, the whirlpool in the sea continuing to churn. Clouds darkened the sky even further, and then a creature with a massive mane burst out of the sea. The strange hair was similar in shape to the seaweed thing, but clawed fins poked through it as it stomped towards the barrier.

"That can't be it..." IV muttered, eyeing the lionesque monster nervously as he took a step back, despite the barrier's presence.

"One for each of us, yeah?" III said. "One for each flag. Should just be one more, if I'm counting properly. Unless a whole bloody army comes out of there. Then we're extra fucked."

Indeed, that hadn't been the end. The next to pop up from the water had a single horn on its head and the bottom half of a seahorse.

"These guys look just like the flags. Too bad we don't have any of those harpoons left," IV said.

"I think we can manage," III said, glaring up at the creature facing him. "If Vessel and Sleep's plan works out like it's supposed to, anyway. Get ready for the signal."

The floating unicorn slammed its horn into the barrier again and again, but to no avail. No matter the strength of the attack, it still held up. "II! Now!" Vessel shouted.

II crouched in the sand, stepping up directly behind the candles. The electricity crackled between his fingers before he pressed his hand to the line of items Vessel had set up in the sand, traveling up and over the barrier. Once it made it to the other side, it traveled along the rest of the items until it stunned the four creatures in their tracks.

"Perfect," Vessel said. "Just like Sleep said it'd do. Ivy? Your go."

II pulled his hand back and the electricity stopped crackling around everything. As the creatures found they could move again they tried to retreat into the water, but IV clenched his fist and pushed the tide back, keeping them stranded in the sand.

Before they could even get a chance to scramble for purchase, though, Vessel raised a hand to make a pulling motion and the creatures slammed back against the barrier. One of the candles lifted up, and the seaweed creature slid under the created hole. The candle lowered back into the sand once it did. "Now, III!" Vessel shouted.

III stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of the creature's plantlike exterior and tugged the matching flag out of his pocket. "Been waiting for this," he said before shoving the flag back. "See, what you didn't plan on was that this stuff you did to us? We can fuckin' use it, yeah?" He placed his hand on the creature's face (or, at least, what he suspected was the creature's face) and a plume of flames shot out of his palm, scorching the flesh underneath. The creature staggered back with an inhuman howl.

"Yeah, fuck you." III kicked at the creature, flames shooting up all out of his body. He stepped forward and hit it again and again with a flaming fist until the thing fell into the sand.

There was a strange uneasiness, and then suddenly a small rip in the air next to the injured monster. A tentacle crept out, followed by another, and another, and another, widening the hole. More and more tentacles wrapped around the plant creature's body and dragged it back through the rip until it sealed itself up.

Everything was silent for a few moments. Then, a single word rumbled through the air, in a language understood only by them, and maybe the other creatures.

More!

"You heard Sleep," III said. "It's hungry! Let's feed It."

"Gladly," II said, gritting his teeth and pressing his heels into the sand. "Same thing, then?"

"Worked fine for the last one," Vessel said. "Looks like everything's working out this time. Want to do the honors for yours?"

"Absolutely." II lifted his hand and sent another wave of electricity down the supernatural conduit Vessel had created. The remaining creatures still attempted to get through the barrier despite nothing working, and II's attack easily shocked them once again.

Once the creatures were reeling once more from the attack, Vessel lifted up another candle to slide the bull monster under the barrier, replacing the candle once it was through.

"Go on, II, you've earned it," III said, stepping back to give II some room.

As II faced the creature who was apparently responsible for when he'd been attacked, he glared at it, the parts of his mouth flaring open for a moment. "This is for thinking you can attack everyone important to me," he said, Vessel raising a hand and giving him a lift behind him. He reached out and grabbed both horns firmly, one in each hand, and shocked the creature, tossing it aside. The tentacles in the rift easily wrapped around it and pulled it inside.

"That's one more down," Vessel said. "Sleep's doing much better, too." He repeated the movements from before, the maned creature getting pulled under the barrier before Vessel replaced the candle. "Now it's Ivy's turn."

IV stepped forward. The creature stood up quicker than anyone expected, though, and swiped at IV, grazing his arm with his claws. "Ow," IV grunted. "You're gonna wish you didn't do that!" Instead of calling forth the water to their position and potentially messing up their setup, IV grabbed at the creature and sank his teeth into the its flesh as it let out a howl of pain before he managed to wrestle it to the ground.

"Save some of that for Sleep," III said. "You'll ruin your appetite."

IV laughed, pulling away. "I'm not gonna eat it. Tastes bad anyway," he said.

"Well, now I wanna try it." III crouched down and considered trying to take a bite.

IV laughed, but before III could do anything, Sleep once again reached out of the rift, grasping the body with all of its tentacles. It moved a lot faster now, and soon the body was gone.

"Just one more," Vessel said. "And now it's my turn." Instead of guiding the others to attack, Vessel stepped up to the barrier, the unicorn-horned seahorse the only creature left. It started to slam its horn into the barrier once again when it saw Vessel approach.

"Well. So you've been trying to win us over, hm? How's it going for you?" Vessel asked. "I'll give you points for trying, but you've gone for the wrong vessels." He lifted the barrier and the unicorn seahorse immediately tried to charge him, but Vessel lifted his hand and hoisted the creature into the air. He held it there as he casually walked over towards the rift, presenting the creature to it. "Sleep, we offer you this sacrifice to assist in returning your strength," he says. "We return these to you." Sleep's tentacles grabbed the creature and dragged it in, and then there was nothing.

Things were quiet, then, the sea slowing its movements until it went still and the sensation of Sleep returning settled into their bones. It was a relief, for sure, even for II despite his general ambivalence about Sleep.

"My vessels," boomed Sleep's voice all around them without needing Vessel as a conduit. "You have proven victorious. I can feel my strength returning."

"Fuck, finally," III said. "What the fuck was all that even for?"

"It is my belief," Sleep said, "That this entire thing was all part of the attempt to win you over to their side."

"How the fuck did they think that was gonna work?" III asked.

"It seems they assumed that unlocking your latent abilities would make you think they were responsible. Once you knew the power you could have, surely you would abandon Me and everything I had provided to you."

"So you can fix us now, right, Sleep?" IV asked. "Put us back to normal?"

"No, my vessels," Sleep said, "I cannot."

II glared up at the sky, arms held out to the side in frustration. "What? Why not?"

"These changes were always a part of you, meant for further on in your journey," Sleep said. "The creatures were able to take advantage of this, triggering the transformation. They will, of course, be summarily punished for everything they've done."

"What the fuck do you mean?" III asked. "That wasn't something they came up with? You can't just... take 'em back?"

"Not when they have been permanently activated like this," Sleep said.

III groaned. "These bloody fuckin' horns... I was hoping to get my normal headspan back."

Sleep laughed. "Worry not, my Third. Those protrusions can be retracted in times of rest. The masks, however... were always meant to be your faces."

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" III asked. He made an obnoxious sound of effort, first catching the horns on fire before he frantically tried to turn it off. After another few tries, the horns slowly disappeared into his body and he relaxed. "Okay. I can live with this," he says. "As long as they don't pop out at the worst possible times."

"Then I can have my normal mouth back," II said, pressing the sections of his mouth together. They held tight for a moment before peeling back once again. "Oh, come on..."

"Alright then. Sleep's back, those things are gone, and nothing else seems to be attacking us right now. Let's get out of here before anything else decides to take a holiday in our world," Vessel said.

"Right behind you!" III said.

III lay flat on his back on the living room floor with his arms splayed out, staring up at the ceiling. IV sat next to him, gently rubbing one of his horns. His ears flicked playfully.

"I think we need a longer break," IV said.

"Yeah," III said. "Longer than we've ever had."

"We didn't get a proper one, after all." IV's fingers slid over the gently bumpy surface of the horn.

"It got interrupted," Vessel said, "which means we have to start it all over again. None of that counted. Tell the label to sod off, we need more time."

"No beach this time," III insisted. "That is enough beach for a long, long time. We're going to pick out something new. And no letting Sleep clear it out either! It could put all kinds of weird shit out here. New monsters that want to eat us or whatever. We're going to deal with all the people no matter how many there are."

"What about the aquarium?" Vessel asked. "I really wanted to see some fish. Never got to use my special camera."

"No fish! No water!" III said, shaking his head emphatically. "We're going into a— a bloody cave. No, wait, there's water in here, can't go in the cave. We could try the desert. Or... or a mountain. Or a landlocked city. No harpoons there. Unless they've got a harpoon shop... might have one in a museum... fuck! We're fucked! Everything's got water!"

"Right. And what if they find a completely different sort of biome to come through?" Vessel asked. "You don't have to be around water to use harpoons as long as you've got them in the first place. They could come out of a rock or something next."

III gasped. "They wouldn't dare!"

"Let's just take it easy," II said. "Find somewhere enjoyable for all of us."

Vessel smiled as he reached out to draw the others into a group hug. "We can all decide together."